When an explosion erupts on their moon, the Klingons realize they have only 50 years left before their ozone layer depletes, leaving them suspect to genocide. With only one choice remaining, the Klingons hesitate in joining the Federation, bringing an end to a 70 year war. Meanwhile, Admiral Kirk and crew are called in to help with the negotiations because of their former affiliations with the Klingons. Still, the "peace talks" don’t exactly go as planned, leaving Kirk and McCoy accused of murder and sent to Rura Penthe, a snow-bound labor prison camp. But with the alleged "peace talkers" locked up, will the Federation ever settle peace talks with the Klingons, and what of Kirk and McCoy's future?

A golden opportunity for peace with the dreaded
/hated Klingons, suddenly appears when their mining moon, Praxis,
explodes, which will result in the gradual destruction of their
ozone layer, making habitation on their planet impossible in 50
years. Having no way of dealing with this, the Klingons have no
other choice but to join The Federation, and end their years of
war, and adopt a more peaceful way of life.

While many people were happy and hopeful about
this development, some, from both sides, cannot let go of past
grievances / bad experiences/ hatred, etc. and enthusiastically
embrace this notion of peace with their long time enemies, let
alone trust them to keep their side of the upcoming peace agreement.
Captain Kirk is just one of them. His Captain's Log entry tells
it all.

Despite Captain Kirk's expressed misgivings
about the character of the Klingons, he is ordered by the Commander,
after Spock gives a glowing recommendation of the Enterprise-A,
to rendezvous with The Chancellor of the Klingon High Council,
Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner) his daughter, Chancellor Azetbur
(Rosanna DeSoto), General Chang (Christopher Plummer) and entourage,
and bring them to the peace table on Earth. Captain Kirk had
never forgiven the Klingons for killing his son, but he does
follow orders and meets them, trying his best to put the Enterprise-A's
best foot forward, and invites them all over for dinner, which
introduces various important Klingon characters to the audience.

During the night, the Klingon ship is attacked by torpedoes,
and boarded by a hit squad, who were dressed in Federation uniforms,
resulting in the death of the Klingon Chancellor and others.
Although the Enterprise-A isn't missing any torpedoes, the ship's
computers show that someone fired some at the Klingon ship.
The surviving Klingons are furious, blaming Captain Kirk and
Doctor McCoy, who made the mistake of beaming over to see if
they could help the dying Chancellor. They are arrested by the
Klingons, and brought back to the Klingon planet for a kangaroo
trial, and sentenced to hard labor in the mines, on a snowy
prison camp, Rura Penthe.

Meanwhile, back on the Enterprise-A, Captain
Spock (Leonard Nimoy), his fellow Vulcan, Lieutenant Valeris
(Kim Cattrall), and the rest of the crew do some fast tap-dancing,
with a little help from their friends, to find ways to stall
Starfleet's orders to come back to Starbase. They quickly start
an investigation to put the clues together, to try to figure
out who really planned and carried out this attack and why,
while devising rescue plans to pluck Kirk and McCoy off their
frozen prison.

Of course, after some hair-raising adventures,
Kirk and McCoy are finally rescued by the Enterprise-A, and
come back from their captivity with important information/clues
that they had picked up at their trial and during their prison
adventures, that helps to flush out some of the guilty parties
on both sides of the coin. Then the race is on to stop the mayhem
planned to destroy the peace process, encountering a space battle
here and there along the way.

The screenplay, (by Nicholas Meyer & Denny
Martin Flin), does a fabulous job mingling elements of science
fiction space adventure, human nature, with twists and turns
of a murder mystery, witty humorous lines and situations, intrigue,
politics and conspiracy, all which make up this entertaining,
exciting story, which is the last adventure with this cast of
characters, from this Enterprise era. The script is very well
thought out and put together expertly with good pacing and direction
(Nicholas Meyer), and carried out to its potential by a dynamite
cast, who truly understand their characters, and make the most
of their lines. The ensemble work is also truly enjoyable.

William Shatner once again excels as James T.
Kirk, a man who definitely has no love for the Klingons, but
is willing to follow orders. In the end, he willingly does the
right thing, which is to try to seek and fight for peace, for
the Federation and Klingon people, and for a personal peace
as well.

Leonard Nimoy is also in top form, as the quick-thinking
Mr. Spock, who rises to any challenge to save both his friends,
and the important peace mission, that will end the violent history
between the Klingons and The Federation. Spock makes a great
Sherlock Holmes. Nimoy had fun with his lines as well. Some
favorite lines, he expertly said with a straight face were:
"What we require now is a feat of linguistic legerdemain
and a degree of intrepidity." "If I were human I believe
my response would be "go to hell ...If I were human.."

The late DeForest Kelley,(died in 1999), as
Dr. McCoy, does a great job as Kirk's friend and sidekick in
the prison camp, and has some funny, dry-humored, one-liners
to provide comic relief in tense situations, throughout the
film, sometimes stating thoughts that the audience throughout
the film might have thought as well.

As usual, James Douhan (as Scotty), George Takei
(briefly as Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Nyota Uhura), provide great
supporting performances in the story.

Kim Cattrall, as Lieutenant Valeris, did an
excellent job portraying a Vulcan Enterprise-A officer with
divided loyalties, which aren't apparent in the beginning of
the film.

Christopher Plummer, as General Chang, excels
as the strong-willed, crafty Klingon war horse general who has
a hard time accepting this peace process, as Kirk does. Though
honorable and respectful of his ex-enemies, he comes up with
a different solution, coming from a different frame of mind.

Favorite Scenes:

1) A favorite cast ensemble moment, is when
the crew is huddled around Uhura, frantically going through
language translation books, trying to help Uhura speak Klingon
well enough to get permission to enter the air space around
Rura Penthe, so they can try to rescue Kirk and Dr. McCoy.
Brave Uhura, not knowing what she is saying, just determinedly
repeats what others are telling her, making some amusing mistakes,
which makes the Klingons on the receiving end laugh heartily.
They finally pull it all together correctly though, through
this comical group effort.

2) Another favorite scene sequence details
the twists and turns of the experiences and escape of James
Kirk and Dr. McCoy from their Rura Penthe Prison.

3) How Kirk and Spock flush out the conspirators
is also clever and entertaining.